SILOAM SPRINGS, Arkansas (Oct. 26, 2024) — In a wild explosion of white, thousands of John Brown University fans launched the traditional toilet paper storm after junior guard LePra George Jr. netted the Golden Eagles' first bucket of the season, marking the raucous start of the school's 41st annual Toilet Paper Game.

What began as a spontaneous celebration in 1984 has evolved into a nationally recognized spectacle, with USA Today, ESPN, CBS Sports and Bleacher Report all hailing it as one of college basketball's premier fan traditions. The first basket of the season's home opener triggers thousands of fans to shower the court with toilet paper, drawing an automatic - and worth it - technical foul.

"We've got a lot of new guys who haven't experienced this," said head coach Jason Beschta.

In his first game with the Golden Eagles, George, a transfer from Northeastern Okla. A&M, not only scored the TP toss-inducing basket, but tallied 16 points and collected 11 rebounds.

"We knew he was really special when we first had him in," said Beschta. "We feel like we got really fortunate in adding LePra."

Kimberly-Clark continued its partnership with the Golden Eagles for the eighth year, donating 4,000 rolls of toilet paper. Fans exchanged canned food items for half the rolls, with all donations and remaining toilet paper benefiting the Manna Center, a local food bank in Siloam Springs.

The Barclay Bears of Kansas returned to Bill George Arena for their fourth consecutive appearance in the crowd-favorite matchup.

The Golden Eagles won the game with a final score of 87-53.

John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked university (The Wall Street Journal) and top-ranked regional university (U.S. News), JBU enrolls more than 2,200 students from 37 states and 42 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers over 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including nursing, psychology, business, computer science, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Eighteen graduate degrees are available in business, counseling, cybersecurity, and education.

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